TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – US diversified miner Freeport-McMoRan on Wednesday reported improved revenues for the three months ended June 30, as the company’s diversification into oil and gas exploration and production was paying off.

The Phoenix, Arizona-based global miner said revenues were driven by improved copper sales, which were up 1.8% year-over-year to 968-million pounds, offset by 8% lower gold sales at 159 000 oz.

Across all its operations, copper, gold and molybdenum output rose in the quarter.

The company, which in June shortened its name from Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold to Freeport-McMoRan to better reflect its expanded portfolio, reported sales of 16-million barrels of oil equivalent, up from five-million barrels last year, which only accounted for a month of operations.

Freeport said the realised prices for copper and gold were lower when compared with a year earlier.

Late in 2012, Freeport announced a $9-billion deal to buy both Plains Exploration & Production and McMoRan Exploration as it aggressively ventured into the exploration and production sector.

Freeport had also completed the sale of its Eagle Ford shale assets for $3.1-billion and also obtained additional interests in the Deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

For the second quarter of this year, revenue improved 29% year-over-year to $5.52-billion and profit was flat at $482-million. The miner recorded a per-share profit of $0.46, down from $0.49 as the company had more shares outstanding.

Wall Street analysts had on average expected the miner to post earnings of $0.51 a share on revenue of $5.34-billion.

Freeport earlier this year reduced the workforce at its mammoth Grasberg copper/gold mine, in Indonesia, where ore output was cut by about 60% in January, in response to unilateral government-imposed duties on exporting unprocessed, non-value-added ores and concentrates.

In a conference call with analysts, vice chairperson Richard Adkerson said the company was in talks with the Indonesian government to reach a near-term agreement that would resume the company's copper concentrate exports by August.

“The basic terms of contract to operate are not being changed. We have entered into a series of negotiations with government. In the memorandum of understanding, we have agreed to pay increased royalties, pay imposed duties for a limited time and make a payment into escrow,” he stated.

Adkerson explained that the company was making concessions that were warranted to solve the current impasse on the export ban. “It is a compromising bridge to maintain goodwill to protect our shareholders in the long run, as we negotiate with the government,” he noted.

The company would have to deal with a new government taking office from October, after the results of hotly contested presidential elections were announced.

Freeport has copper, gold and other miner mines in Peru, Chile, Indonesia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and in the US.

Freeport’s NYSE-listed stock traded at $38.63 apiece on Wednesday morning.